Twitter appoints interim chief compliance officer, loses 3rd party legal shield in India

Twitter announced on Tuesday that it has selected an interim Chief Compliance Officer, and that the official's information will be disclosed to the IT Ministry directly soon.

The government had sent a notice to Twitter, offering it one more chance to "immediately" comply with the new IT rules and warning that failing to do so would result in the social networking site losing its exemption from liability under the IT Act.

Twitter had informed the Indian government last week that it is nearing completion of the hiring of a Chief Compliance Officer, as needed by the new IT laws, and that it will submit more details within a week.

On Tuesday, a Twitter spokesman stated that the organization is continuing to make efforts to comply with the new rules and is keeping the IT Ministry updated at every stage of the process.

The decision by Twitter is significant because the company has been under fire for failing to comply with IT rules that require major digital platforms to exercise greater due diligence and to be more accountable and liable for the information that is posted.

In India, Twitter has lost its "safe harbour" immunity for failing to enlist statutory officers on the company's role in accordance with new IT rules, and its top executives, including the country managing director. It could now possibly face police questioning and criminal liability under the IPC for "unlawful" and "inflammatory" content posted on the platform by any user.

Companies were supposed to nominate the officers by May 25th, but many did not because of the Coronavirus-induced lockdown and closures, as well as other technological difficulties.

On June 5th, the government had sent a "one last notice" to Twitter, requesting that it comply with the new IT Rules or risk losing legal immunity from any third-party information uploaded on the site.

The government appears to be dissatisfied with the company's actions, particularly because it feels that repeated reminders and even a brief relaxation, which was extended as a "goodwill gesture" but did not produce much of an effect.